The District of Columbia has ranked second among the top ten best places for nursing home care, according to the latest Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data.
Washington, D.C. got a total score of 3.89 on a 5-point scale, Care.com analysis said, while Virginia ranked 40th with a total score of 3.2. Hawaii topped the list with a score of 3.93.
In the District, 5.1 percent of patients are in short-term care and 0.8 percent are in long-term care.
Among the 10 worst states for nursing home quality care, Texas was the worst with a score of 2.68, and Illinois got the 10th place with a score of 3.18.
The nursing home rankings are determined by performance measured on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services five-star quality rating system, or CMS.
Nursing homes were ranked for their performance based on three areas – health inspections, nursing staffing, and 16 quality measures, including seven for short-term stay residents and nine for long-term stay residents.
According to national studies, 75 percent of older adults prefer to live in their own homes in their old age with the support of family, friends or professional caregivers. Nursing homes are required when aging relatives need more care.
Among those who participated in the Care.com survey, 71 percent said they were satisfied with the care their elders received in a nursing home, but 18 percent said they were not happy with it. Another 11 percent said they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. More than half of those who were surveyed said they would take care of their aging relative full time if possible, but 25.5 percent said they were unsure.
In the U.S., there are about 15,600 nursing homes with 1.17 million beds that house 1.4 million patients.
DC Council Proposes to Train Foster Parents on How to Care for Vulnerable Children